AI-driven fraud schemes cause record financial losses in US
AI-powered fraud schemes caused record financial losses of $16 billion in 2025, with voice cloning and AI-generated phishing becoming increasingly common tactics. Nearly two-thirds of Americans have encountered fraud or know someone who has, with Americans losing $893 million specifically to AI-related scams in 2025.
What happened
Financial fraud hit record highs in 2025, with total losses reaching $16 billion, up 25% from the prior year, according to the FTC. Nearly two thirds of Americans have encountered fraud or know someone who has in the past three years.
Fraudsters increasingly use AI tools to conduct sophisticated scams. Voice cloning technology is used in vishing scams where AI clones voices to convince victims to transfer money. Large language models trained to mimic human writing are used to create personalized, grammatically flawless phishing emails and texts that impersonate real individuals. Machine learning is also used to bypass spam filters.
Reported impact
Americans lost $7.2 billion to crypto investment scams and $893 million to AI-related scams in 2025. More than half of fraud victims in the past three years lost $500 or more. Among Americans under 45, 32% reported losing money to fraud compared with 20% of older counterparts.
More than half of surveyed Americans expect themselves or someone close to them to be targeted by fraud in the next year. Just 37% of respondents said they felt confident in their ability to spot a scam.
Index analysis
Phishing and smishing (SMS text message scams) are the most common types of fraud, making up 62% of attempts. Imposter scams also account for 51% of incidents, while investment fraud, lottery scams and relationship scams made up around 20% of incidents.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.